This invention relates to an arterial distensibility measuring apparatus, specifically to an arterial distensibility measuring apparatus which can directly measure arterial distensibility by a simple method.
It is very effective to diagnose heart diseases to know arterial distensibility as well as blood pressure and pulse wave analysis. Healthy people's arteries have soft walls with high distensibility, but arteriosclerosis' arteries have hard walls with low distensibility. Conventionally, the arterial distensibility has been indirectly measured by measuring the transmitting speed of a pulse wave. That is, the characteristic that arteriosclerosis increase the transmitting speed of the pulse wave has been used in measuring the transmitting speed of a pulse wave between the carotid artery and the femoral artery of a femoral by pulse wave sensors attached respectively thereto, and based on the measured transmitting speed, the arterial distensibility has been judged.
But, this conventional measurement of the arterial distensibility has a problem that pulse wave sensors have to be attached to a part near the heart and to a femoral, which makes the measuring operation bothering. Another problem is that this measurement is an indirect determination of the arterial distensibility by the transmitting speed of a pulse wave, and accordingly the measurement is not exact.